1. Field of Invention
A portable ground deployed flood barrier for the protection of a structure against tidal or ground surface flooding provides a lower cylindrical ground tube placed on the ground against the structure base, an upper cylindrical float tube and an intermediate sheet material attaching between the ground tube and the float tube which is presented as folded but readily spread vertically as the flood waters rise, causing the float tube to rise to the water level while leaving the ground tube in contact with the ground surface forming a water proof barrier for the structure against the flood waters.
2. Description of Prior Art
A preliminary review of prior art patents was conducted by the applicant which reveal prior art patents in a similar field or having similar use. However, the prior art inventions do not disclose the same or similar elements as the present flood control apparatus, nor do they present the material components in a manner contemplated or anticipated in the prior art.
Several utility patents have addressed the problem of prevention of water build-up and protection of areas and structures using various disclosed methods and products. Some include walled barriers which are erected as waters rise. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,373 to Jenkins, a walled barrier with two ground inflatable ballast members securing to each other which support an extendable barrier wall, further supported by guy wires and poles, the tubular ballast members using water and air pressure. These ballast members are assisted by a liner, elongated plate retainers and spiral auger type anchors to keep the ballast members from floating and to keep the wall in place. A fluid filled barrier is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,564 to Miller, comprising a fluid-fillable barrier including a tubular, impermeable membrane and at least one tensioning member. The tensioning member is inside the barrier and separates the inner barrier to form the overall oval shape of the filled membrane. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,577 to Strong, two tubular cylinders are used, along with skirts. The upper tubular cylinder is inflated with air after the skirts are anchored to the ground. The lower cylindrical tube then obtains water from the flood through a plurality of linear spaced flood water entry ports to expand the lower cylindrical tube, resulting in an alleged effective flood barrier. A flood control barrier for separating water in a wet area and preventing water from entry into a dry area is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,025 to Dery. There is a flexible exterior membrane made of liquid impervious material and includes elongated upper and lower membrane sections joined at a closed longitudinal downstream end of the exterior membrane opposed to an open longitudinal upstream end, with water flowing into the open end and be received between the upper and lower membrane sections to be trapped within this device by the closed downstream end, preventing the water from flowing past the barrier. A flood wall is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,712,998 to Salemie, which comprises a portable flood wall by a sheet of synthetic plastic material folded back upon itself to define a chamber between bottom, rear and front portions of the sheet within which at least one inflatable bladder is secured. The bladder compels the rear portion of the sheet to rise into a vertical position to prevent water from passing beyond the sheet. The front portion contains a plurality of openings to allow water to enter the chamber. The weight of the water on the bottom portions of the sheet serves to hold the wall in place.
In another somewhat related apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,821 to Cain, there is disclosed an oil spill containment boom that provides a boom curtain with a self-inflating flotation chamber on one longitudinal edge with an integral depending curtain terminating in a self-inflated ballast chamber also providing attached ballast weights, with the floatation chamber inflated by gas and the lower ballast chamber inflated by water into which the boom curtain is disposed. The boom curtain is made of al lightweight single-ply or multiple ply sheet material.